Betting Ring Suspect Dead In Car Trunk

February 11, 1985|By Andrew Fegelman and Ronald Koziol. Also contributing to this story was John O`Brien.

The body of a Northwest suburban man linked by police to the crime syndicate`s multimillion-dollar sports-betting operations on the North Side and northwest suburbs was found Sunday in the trunk of his car in the parking lot of an Arlington Heights hotel.

Arlington Heights Police Sgt. Willard Salee identified the man as Hal C. Smith, 48, of Prospect Heights. Police said Smith`s throat had been slashed, although there was no immediate indication how long he had been dead. He had been missing since Thursday.

Arlington Heights police found Smith`s gold 1983 Cadillac Seville just after 10 a.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the Arlington Park Hilton and opened the trunk about 30 minutes later after obtaining a warrant.

Sources familiar with the case said Smith had operated as a bookmaker for at least 10 years. They said he often boasted that he was independent of the crime syndicate.

But Smith was a major target of a federal grand-jury investigation of mob-gambling activities in the Chicago area for two years, federal sources said Sunday.

That investigation is expected to produce grand-jury indictments in six months, according to Gary Shapiro, chief of the U.S. Justice Department`s Organized Crime Strike Force.

Smith`s role in the federal investigation became apparent in March, 1983, when federal agents raided his home, seizing $611,000, the largest sum ever taken by the strike force and the IRS in the Chicago area. Authorities said the amount was substantially more than an operator routinely keeps on hand to pay off wagers.

Smith was reported missing by his wife, Barbara, after he failed to return home Thursday night, police said. She told police she last saw him at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, when he told her he was going to the Village Tavern in Long Grove.

Police said they didn`t know if he arrived there, and employees at the restaurant told Cook County detectives they don`t remember seeing him.

After finding Smith`s body, investigators said they were looking for a man and a woman who worked for Smith for questioning. The man, described by authorities as a paraplegic who was confined to a wheelchair, is believed to have helped Smith oversee gambling operations in the North suburbs.

Investigators described the woman as an acquaintance of Smith. When they were together, investigators said, the woman often carried a gun to protect them. Investigators said Smith often carried large amounts of cash.

Seven months after the raid that netted more than half a million dollars in cash, agents again raided Smith`s home and seized his car. Smith wasn`t charged after either raid.

According to court records filed in connection with that case, the IRS contended that the money, and Smith`s house and car represented the proceeds of illegal gambling activites.

Late in January, attorneys assigned to the Justice Department`s strike force in Chicago filed documents in U.S. District court, asking that a government civil suit filed to confiscate the money be halted pending the outcome of the grand-jury investigation.

Smith`s death comes one month after reputed North Side and north suburban gambling figure Leonard Yaras was found shot to death in gangland style outside an industrial laundry where he was known to have an office for suspected gambling activities.